Improvement in combined gang-plows, cultivators, and choppers



2Sheets--Sheet2. 1.]. WATBOUS.

00 m h i nee Ga ng P! ows, C u I t i v ate rs, a nd 0 h o p pe rs. N0.148,l57. PatentedMarch3.1874.

/ swfe I Witnesses: 9 4 Inventor:

' Per fig?! I r Attorneys.

UNITED STATES PATENT C rrroe.

JOHN J. WATROUS, OF WEST POINT, GEORGIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED GANG-FLOWS. CULTWATORS, AND CHOPPERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 548,157, dated March 3, 1874; application filed January 5, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J our J. WArnoUs, of West Point, in the county of Troup and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Combined Grang'Plow, Cultivator, and Chopper, of which the following is.

' arranged for use as a gang-plow. Fig. 4, Sheet 2, is a vertical section of the same, taken througlf the line y y, Fig. 3. Fig. 5, Sheet 2, is a top view of the rear part of the machine, arranged as a bedder.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

My invention has for its object to furnish an improved machine which may be readily adjusted for breaking up and bedding land, and for cultivating and chopping the crop, and which shall be simple in construction and easily manipulated and controlled. The invention consists in a certain construction and arrangement of parts, as specifically indicated in the claims, and which are described generally hereinafter in connection with other parts necessary to form a complete or operative machine.

A are the wheels, which are placed upon the journals of the axle B, where they are secured in place by linchpins a a washer being interposed between said linchpin and the end of the hubs. The hubs of the wheels and the journals of the axles are also slotted to receive a linchpin or key, a when the chopper is to be used to cause the wheels to carry the said axle with them in their revolution. The axle 13 works in bearings attached to the side bars of the frame 0. The frame 0 consists of two side bars connected at their forward ends by a cross-bar, and to its forward corners are attached hooks or clevises D, to receive the whiffletrees. By this construction no tongue is required, which enables the machine to be turned in a very small space. E is a bow or arched bar, which is placed over the 'axle B, and the ends of which are attached to the side bars of the frame 0. To the center or top of the bow E is pivoted the center of the crossbar F, to the ends of which are secured the forward ends of the handles G. The handles G are 0011- nected, a little in the rear of their centers, by

the cross-bar H, and at their rear ends by the just in the rear of the said axle B, is attached an arm, m, in which the forward end of the shaft L revolves. To the rear part of the shaft L is rigidly attached a cross-bar, N, the arms of which are slotted longitudinally to receive the clamping screws or bolts by which the shanks of the chopping-hoes O are secured to said arms, so that they may be conveniently adjusted to work deeper or shallower in the ground, as maybe desire By this construction the chopper will be operated by the advance of the machine. The rear end of the shaft L revolves in a hole in the lower end of the bar P, the upper end of which is pivoted to the center of the rear cross-bar I of the handles G", so that the chopper may be raised from the ground, and thus prevented from workin g, by raising the rear ends of the handles G. When the chopper is not required for use, it should be detached. Q is a cross-bar, the ends of which are pivoted to the eyes of the eyebolts R, which pass up through the rear ends of the side bars of the frame 0, where they are secured in place by nuts screwed upon them, above and below the side bars of the frame 0, so that, by adjusting the said nuts, the bar Q may be raised and lowered to adjust the plows to work shallower or deeper in the ground. The cross-bar Q is slotted longitudinally to receive the forward ends of the plow-beams S, where they are secured in place by pins or bolts passing through a hole in the forward end o the plow-beam S and in the cross-bar Q. N emerous holes are formed in the cross-bar Q, so that the plow-beams S may be adjusted at any desired distance apart, or so that any desired number of plow-beai'ns may be used, according to the kind of work to be done. This construction allows the rear ends of the plowbeams to have a free Vertical movement. T are bars, the upper ends of which are pivoted to the crossbar H, and their lower parts pass through keepers U, attached to the rear part of the plowbeams, so that the bars T, while limiting the lateral movement of the plows, may not impede their vertical movement.

The plow-beams may be still further strengthened against lateral movement by another bar similar to the bar T bolted to the lower end of the said bar T, and bolted at its upper end to the cross-bar H, at a little distance from the upper end of the bar T.

When the machine is used as a cultivator, two plow-beams, S, of the same length, are used. When the machine is used as a gangplow, three plow-beams, S, are used, arranged in the order of their lengths, as shown in Fig.

3. In this case the adjacent plow-beams are further secured in their proper relative positions by the bars V, bolted to them. By placing the shortest beam S in the center and a longer beam, S, upon each side, with plows throwing the soil both ways, a bedding-plow is produced. By placing the longest beam, with a large opening-shovel attached to it, in the center, and two short beams provided with right and left shovels at its sides, a barbed plow is produced.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination of the wheels A, axle 13, frame 0, how E, cross-bars F H I, and pivoted handle-frame G, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. The combination of the slotted, perforated, and pivoted bar 0, perforated cross-bar H, frame G, keeper U, bars T, and plow-beams S, as shown and described.

J OHN J. VVATROUS.

Witnesses:

JOHN J ONES, S. S. BARKER. 

